


Welcome To Devil Time

by Vertolina



Series: Even The Devil Needs A Friend [6]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angry Dan, Gen, I tried to be original, Key word might be 'tried', Not Beta Read, One Shot, Scared Dan, Worried Lucifer, Yet another story about Lucifer revealing his face
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-14
Updated: 2017-05-14
Packaged: 2018-10-31 18:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10905309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vertolina/pseuds/Vertolina
Summary: Lucifer accidentally reveals his 'nasty side' to Dan.





	Welcome To Devil Time

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a 'The Big Reveal' story and even though I was quite excited about it some time ago, while I was writing it I realized just how many such fics already exist. However, I hope you'll find it enjoyable anyway.  
> For those who haven't read any of the other stories in this series, just keep in mind that Lucifer and Dan had become really good friends.  
> All comments are welcome!  
> And, please, excuse the mistakes you'll find!

The prohibition against taking a mortal life was one of the very few of his Dad’s rules that Lucifer truly respected. And yet there were times when he didn’t feel so inclined to obey it; times when he was wondering whether there could be anything precious about the life of a miscreant, who had chosen to use the gift of his free will only to inflict pain and sorrow in the world; times like the present moment when he was facing a creature so vile it was making the Ruler of Hell feel sick in the stomach. He took another step toward the man before him and felt the dull pain of bullets bouncing off his chest. It wasn’t even that big of a dilemma. He could kill him and perhaps dear old Dad wouldn’t even be that upset about it. He blinked as one of the annoying pieces of metal, flying toward him, grazed his temple and for a second the image of the body of the victim they’d found took over his mind. He saw her again – laying on the pavement in front of the squalid building, she had been calling home, soaked in blood from the stab wound in her chest, with hands tightly wrapped around her swollen belly in a useless attempt to protect the life inside of her, even as she was taking her final breaths on this earth. She was dead, because she’d had the audacity to dare and leave her old life in seeking of a better future for herself and her baby. She was dead, because the man before him had decided that his pride was worth more than two innocent lives.

Rage blinded the fallen angel as he took another step forward. He heard a low growl, coming from his own throat and let an annihilating smirk creep onto his face, fully aware that now he was looking as close to his evil self as his human form allowed. The shooting stopped and the man threw the empty now gun on the floor and drew out a knife. _What infallible logic indeed!_ Lucifer could kill him and send him to Hell where his rotten soul truly belonged. But what good would that do? He wasn’t there anymore to exact punishment on him. The Devil was here and he wanted to take his sweet time making him pay for every sin he had ever committed. Slowly, Lucifer approached the man and broke the arm that tried to wield the knife against him. He relished in the sound of cracking bone for a moment and his grin grew wider. He was going to give him a little more of that treatment… later. But first he wished to break _him_ ; the real him – his mind and soul. He wanted to destroy his peace and crush his brain; obliterate his last hope and have him beg for a merciful death.

Without letting the smile fade away from his face, Lucifer allowed the fires of Hell to burn though his gaze and revealed his true form. The man’s screams filled his ears like a beautiful symphony as he gave him his worst. There was no reason to hurry, no reason to show mercy. He stared deep into the miscreant’s petrified eyes and showed him the destiny that awaited him after his soul had abandoned his body. The man collapsed in a pile on the floor and Lucifer finally averted his eyes from the pathetic sight before him. With a satisfied sigh, he took a step back and his gaze landed on…

“Dan… No!” The Devil quickly resumed his human form but he knew it was too late. The detective was standing at the end of the corridor with eyes focused on Lucifer and transfixed expression on his face. His gun was idly hanging in the loose grip of his fingers and, if the lack of movement in his upper body was any indication, he’d forgotten to breathe.

Lucifer slowly rose his hands in a gesture that was supposed to indicate he posed no threat and tried to look as harmless as possible. No damage control in the world could fix what had been done, but he owed it to the man to at least try. Deep down in his heart he knew that he had already lost his friend, but he had to make an effort to preserve his sanity. Ever since Chloe had learned and accepted who… _what_ he truly was, he had been entertaining the idea of showing Daniel his nasty face. But not like this. _Never_ like this. That look was reserved for the ragtag of humanity. It was meant to punish, to destroy and very few people could recover after catching a glimpse of it.

“Daniel…” he started as softly as possible, not knowing what to say next. _I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!_  He wanted to go to his friend and shake him out of his trance, but the fear of causing further damage kept him in place. “Dan, it’s okay.”

“Okay…” The words were just a whisper but the man was slowly regaining the sense of self-awareness. “Okay?” His voice was louder now and Lucifer could see his old friend looking back at him. “What the hell, man?!”

“Look, Dan, I can explain.”

“Explain? EXPLAIN! What the actual fuck were you fucking thinking, man?!” The detective’s face had gone from pale to alarmingly red and an angry pulsing vein was becoming more and more noticeable on his forehead. For what was worth, the fallen angel had never seen the detective lose his temper like that, but fury was a vast improvement from the catatonic state he had been in a moment ago so he allowed a small smile to curve up his lips.

“I didn’t know you were standing there. I thought it would be awhile before anyone arrived here.”

“And what if it hadn’t been me to arrive first, huh? You could have ruined some poor cop’s life! Did you even think about that?”

Lucifer was so jubilant that his friend was able to form full and coherent sentences that it took him some time to realize that he was actually being… _scolded_. Dan had just learned in the most terrible way possible the truth about him and his initial reaction was to _scold_ him for not being careful enough while revealing his face to the perpetrator. Before he could think of an appropriate response, the detective had already approached the unconscious body on the floor and was looking at it with disgust.

“You really can do that by simply _looking_ at someone?”

“It depends. But I suppose the short answer is ‘yes.’”

Dan nodded silently and continued his observation of the pathetic excuse of a human being. Lucifer studied his friend’s face for a moment, searching for traces of impending breakdown, but found none. The detective had regained his natural color along with his trademark stern cop expression. His mind was strong and he was rapidly recovering from the initial shock, but Lucifer still needed to hear his thoughts, craved verbal confirmation that everything would be all right. With the man standing fearlessly so close to him, he even dared to wish that there was still hope for their friendship. “Dan, listen, I--” but before he could finish the sentence, a few units stormed the place and the detective joined them – maybe a little too quickly – disappearing from the Devil’s sight.

_______

 

There was something exquisite in the way the expensive amber liquid was burning his throat and blurring his mind. Blissful oblivion was awaiting at the bottom of the bottle and Dan eagerly drained another glass. This was his special ‘in case of Lucifer’ bourbon and he chuckled at the irony. After his friend had developed the habit of showing up unannounced at his home and had complained repeatedly about the lack of any alcohol that wasn’t the cheap beer Dan favored so much, the detective had invested a significant (for him) amount of money in some good-quality booze as a sign of hospitality. He’d never thought he would be drinking it alone in a desperate attempt to erase the image of the Devil from his memory. The monster with fiery red eyes and scorched skin was lurking somewhere at the back of his mind, parading himself every time the man closed his eyes, and Dan could feel himself slowly losing control over his thoughts. He was afraid, but, strangely enough, not of Lucifer. And that was scaring him even more. Maybe he’d lost his sane perception of the world; maybe the man who had woken up, mumbling incoherently in terror, had gotten the right idea. People were meant to be afraid. They were supposed to bow down fearfully and beg for mercy. But he hadn’t. A shiver went down his spine as the vague memory of himself yelling at Lucifer came to life in his mind.

_The Devil._

_The actual living and breathing Lord of Hell._

He took another sip of the burning liquid and closed his eyes, recalling the scene he had witnessed. One moment he had been looking at his friend – the man he trusted with his life and his family’s safety – and the next his place had been taken by a hideous creature whose very visage inflicted feelings of terror and doom. Looking at him had been like the fires of Hell had risen to burn his flesh and consume his soul. And then, just as quickly, it had all ended, leaving him a mess of confused emotions. Perhaps in time he would have clung to the reasonable part of his mind and even convinced himself it had all been just a figment of his imagination. But he remembered Lucifer’s eyes – his human eyes, filled with regret and fear, speaking louder than any words could that that was a punishment he never intended to inflict upon him. And he no longer could run away from the truth.  Every demented statement Lucifer had ever made had been a rightful claim to a title he’d had since mankind was living in caves. The realization of everything that meant had caused his whole world to shift on its axis, but even at that moment, a tiny voice in his head had whispered to him that maybe that revelation hadn’t been a bolt from the blue. Maybe deep down he had known the truth, but had suppressed its voice and refused to let it reach his conscious mind. Standing there, staring at Lucifer, he had wished to return to that oblivious state, craved the normalcy his life had had just a moment ago. So he’d clung to the last bits of sanity he could reach; he’d welcomed the anger that had filled his chest and blurred his thoughts. _Fake it till you make it._ But now he was alone in the darkness of his apartment and was slowly losing the fight with himself. Part of him was struggling with the desire to take Trixie and Chloe and flee the continent while other part was urging him to go to Lux and talk things through with Lucifer. So he opted for solution number three – drinking. After all, denial had been his salvation for as long as he could remember. He’d never had Chloe’s luck. His parents had been devoted Catholics and had forced him to attend Sunday school for years. He could recall spending hours as a small boy praying to God to forgive him for lying to his teachers that the dog had eaten his homework, begging Him not to condemn his father’s soul to Hell for running over the neighbor’s cat, asking Him for help when his mother had been sick. No one ever answered and he’d lived in fear that he’d upset the good Lord and was destined to burn for all eternity. By the time he was nine years old, he used to dream of Hell almost every night. He’d been waking up shivering and sweaty, screaming in horror after having his mind trapped in a fiery pit of pain and despair. His mental state had become so fragile that his mother had insisted he talk to a therapist. And then he’d finally seen the light – religion was just a tool, developed to keep the people obedient and scared like a flock of sheep.

_Except it wasn’t._

Dan had made a choice not to believe in Heaven and Hell. But part of Hell was here, before his very eyes and he could no longer avert them from the truth.

Another glass of bourbon burned his throat, failing to calm his nerves. The cuckoo clock, Trixie had given him as a Christmas present, struck midnight but time had lost its meaning to the man. He had little desire to return to his childhood’s nightmares so he remained where he was – sitting on the floor in the living room, surrounded by darkness and the scent of alcohol. He was pondering the question of how he was supposed to continue with his life from now on when the doorbell rang and forced him to return to the present moment.

“Hello, Dan,” Lucifer greeted him softly with a shadow of a smile as soon as he opened the door, but made no move toward him. In fact, the Devil was standing three feet away from the doorstep and was looking at the detective as if _he_ was the one who should be feared.

“Hi.” Dan swallowed hard and regarded the man before him. Lucifer was looking at him with hopeful eyes and an innocent expression on his face. The small smile curving his lips was making him look more like a child than an ancient being, destined to rule Hell and punish humanity for its sins, and suddenly Father John’s voice echoed in his head as clearly as it had thirty years ago: _“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”_ Only his friend had never been big on pretending to be anything else other than the actual Devil.

“May I come in?” The words interrupted the detective’s train of thought and he realized that he was being studied too. Whatever Lucifer had found in the features of his face had made the hopefulness disappear from his gaze. His smile had turned into a mask of sadness and deep down Dan knew that he’d asked the question just to confirm his own fears of impending rejection.

“That’s new. Since when do you ask for permission to go anywhere? If I recall correctly, you broke into my house five times last month.”

“Well, considering the circumstances, I decided to be a good Devil for once.”

And there it was again – the reminder that he wasn’t his friend or Chloe’s weird partner… that he wasn’t even human.

“Are you afraid of me?”

“Should I be?”

“No.”

But he _was_ afraid. Maybe not of the creature before him, but of what he represented. The memory of Malcolm’s body falling on the ground as the bullets hit his chest came to life in his mind and the detective shook his head to get rid of the disturbing image _._ Every sinner goes to Hell – that was the lesson his encounter with religion had thought him. And he knew he was no saint.

“Does… Does Chloe know about…?”

“Yes. I showed her last month.” That simple sentence made Dan breathe a little easier. “Your reaction earlier made me think she had told you, but…”

“She hadn’t.”

“Yes. I know that now.”

“Did she tell you to come here?”

“Actually, that was Doctor Linda’s idea.”

“Your therapist? She knows too?”

“Yes.”

“How… uh… What did they… Chloe seemed fine and…”

“Doctor Linda was in shock for a few days, but eventually came around. The Detective was surprisingly… understanding. But they both saw the PG-13 version. What you witnessed was more R-rated.” Lucifer was trying to joke his way through the awkwardness of the situation and, for the first time, Dan was grateful for that.

“There _is_ a PG-13 version?” When the fallen angel chuckled in response, the detective felt the weight being lifted from his chest. Lucifer’s presence was somehow helping him bury his fears and put things into perspective. Perhaps it was easier to face the Devil he knew than being alone with the dreadful demons his mind was creating.

“It’s less flashy. No additional images of hellish fires. Just plain old me.” Lucifer had glued a large smile to his face but his every move was divulging his restless state. Normally, he would make himself at home at his friend’s apartment (which in the past had led half of Dan’s neighbors to believe that he was his brother, while the other half was convinced that the two men were lovers), but now he was just standing in the middle of the room as if he wasn’t sure what his next move should be.

“Look, man, I realize you can end me with a snap of your fingers. You don’t have to act retarded just to keep me calm.”

“Actually, I _can’t_ kill you by snapping my fingers. That’s a concept from that TV show you like so much. A _wrong_ concept.” Lucifer finally sat himself on the couch and cast a wistful glance at the almost empty bottle of bourbon, placed on the table.

“So that body is entirely yours and there isn’t some poor soul trapped in there too?” Dan filled a glass with the amber liquid and handed it to the fallen angel.

“No. This is all me. Though my Mum and Dad don’t have corporeal form and have to borrow a skin sack to be able to stay on Earth. But even then they don’t share it with anybody.”

“Wait. What do you mean your _Mum_?”

“Trust me, that’s a topic it’s best we don’t discuss right now.”

“Okay,” Dan nodded, even though a suspicion he knew would haunt him later had already nested in his brain. “So to be clear, you don’t seek global domination, raising Hell on Earth or to consume the souls of the innocent.”

“No, none of the above.”

“Alright then,” the detective noded and for a couple of minutes the two men stayed wrapped in silence.

“That’s it?" Lucifer frowned at his friend, his voice quiet and full of doubt. "A few questions inspired by pop culture references and you’re… fine?”

“You seem disappointed.”

“No, of course not. But… Did you know? Did you know what I really was?”

“Maybe I did," Dan said, more as an answer to his own inner question and smiled at some unspoken joke. "I mean, the truth was _right there_. So many perps we interrogated claimed that you’re really the Devil. Some of them are still in mental institutions. They even… They described you. But I chose to look the other way. I thought to myself that that conviction was just a trick, a part of the mind game you play with people." He paused to catch his breath, but before the other man could form his response, Dan shook his head and added quickly, "Foolish, I know. But you have to understand – when I was studying the Bible I didn’t really expect it to be a history book.”

“Yeah, about that. It’s not all facts. And I know how I’m described there, but…”

“But history is written by the victors.”

“Yes.” Lucifer leaned forward, trying to find something more in the detective’s gaze, but his friend just smiled back at him. “I wish no harm to you or Chloe, or your little one. I’m not here to hurt anybody. I just wanted to be free.”

“I believe you.” Only after the words left his lips did the man realize their sincerity. It was something he couldn’t explain, a feeling he couldn’t put into word, but deep down he knew he had nothing to fear from Lucifer. He'd known it for a long time. _“The Devil is a deceiver, my son! Do not let his lies poison your mind!”_ – that was what Father John would have told him. But Father John had left this world, his spirit was free from the conventions of the church, he'd dedicated his life to, and perhaps now he'd give him a different advise.

“But you’re still afraid. I can see it in your eyes.”

“Well, eternal damnation isn’t something I look forward to,” Dan chuckled, but couldn’t hide the trembling of his voice.

“Right. But you don’t have to worry about that. You don’t have to choose between me and your soul’s salvation. My Dad, as hypocritical as He can be, still doesn’t judge people for the kindness they show to the villains in their lives.”

“See, that’s the problem. _I_ used to be the villain for quite some time. I’ve killed, I’ve lied… And if I have to, I’d do it again.”

“You’re not going to go to Hell, Daniel.”

“Do you know that?”

“No one knows where a human soul belongs until the person’s last breath. All we can do is guess.”

“Great!” Dan let out a deep sigh and stared down at his hands for a long moment. Perhaps he was finally feeling the way he was supposed to – guilty, scared,… doomed.

“So, uh, personal experience says that you people have a lot of questions when facing divinity. You’re not really gonna tell me that all you want to know is whether or not I match the character traits of the Lucifer from your favorite show, right?” The Devil was joking… again. The detective almost thanked God for his friend’s ridiculous sense of humor before recalling their familial relation.

“Yeah, so your dad…”

“Is God, yes.”

“And your face… I mean, the other face… He did that to you?”

“Big Fall. Tough landing. Can dishevel even an immortal.”

“Yeah… _dishevel_. Right. But how come you bleed? I’ve _seen_ you injured.”

A smile crossed the Devil’s face as he shifted in his seat, preparing for the long night that awaited him. For hours he led the same conversation he’d had with Linda and Chloe, thankful for the mild boredom, ruling over his mind. He had prepared himself for disaster, resentment and spite, but all he’d found was his (miraculously) not very drunk friend, who had needed a little guidance to understand the crazy world he was living in. He watched the fear fade away from the man’s eyes and carried him like child to his bed when the sleep finally took over him.

Dan woke up in the morning to the smell of coffee and fried eggs, oblivious to the demons of his own imagination who had haunted his dreams. From the dark circles under Lucifer’s eyes he could tell his friend hadn’t had any rest that night. But what he never found out was that he had stayed by his side, humming an ancient angelic lullaby, casting away the nightmares, threatening to tear his mind apart.

He never dreamed of Hell again.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry if Dan is too OOC here. I sort of thought about how I would react if my best friend turned out to be the Devil :D  
> No offence to the Sunday schools. I've never attended one and I'm not even Catholic so I can't know what they're like. But when I was small the idea of Hell used to make me very scared (without the nightmares though) so I kinda incorporated that into the story.  
> Oh, and the show Dan watches is Supernatural :D


End file.
